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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 







THE LAMB OF GOD. 



BY THE AUTHOR OF 

MAY I NOT? OE, TWO WAYS OF LOOKING 
THKOUGH A TELESCOPE. 

WHAT CAN I DO? 
(A QUESTION FOR PROFESSING CHRISTIANS.) 

DIDLEY DUMPS, THE NEW T SBOY r . 

FROM SHORE TO SHORE ; OR, THE VOYAGE 
LIFJE. 




A^/^4^ S4U4, 



PHILADELPHIA: 

THE AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 

1122 Chestnut Street. 

8 and 10 Bible House, New York. 



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Copyright, 1S88, by 
The American Sunday-School Union. 




He is despised and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, 
and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces 
from Him. 

He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep 
before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. 
— is a I ah 53 :3, 7. 

Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince 
and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and for- 
giveness of sins. — ACTS 5 : 31. 

I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, "Write, 
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.— Rev. 14 : 13. 



(iii) 



The few incidents iu the life of our Saviour, 
so imperfectly sketched in this little book, are 
placed before the reader in the hope that they 
may induce him to prayerfully study the inspired 
volume, and, from the fountain-head, get a full 
and accurate account of the sayings and doings 
of our Lord, thus obeying His command, " Search 
the Scriptures ; for in them ye think ye have 
eternal life : and they are they which testify 
of Me." 

The Bible interprets itself, and will make all 
essential matters plain to those who study it in a 
right spirit, and in the firm belief that they will 
there find " eternal life." 



to 



1* 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. page 
God's goodness in providing this beautiful world for 
man — All nature vocal in praise of God — Re- 
demptive power exceeds creative power — Christ 
the all-sufficient Saviour — Confidence in Christ — 
The Bible as a picture book, 9 

CHAPTER II. 

Christ revealed in types and figures — Necessity of a 
personal study of the Scriptures — The coming of 
Christ foretold — Saint John's appeal, " Behold 
the Lamb of God " — Simeon's recognition of the 
Messiah, . 17 

CHAPTER III. 

Early life of Christ — Christ's baptism — His tempta- 
tion — Philip and Nathanael espouse Christ's cause 
— Inconsistencies of others must not keep us from 
Christ — Christ's first miracle — We can only " fol- 
low " Christ where He leads, 28 

CHAPTER IV. 

Christ heals leprosy — A demoniac in synagogue at 
Capernaum— Two demoniacs plead not to be tor- 
mented " before the time " — A paralytic cured 
through the faith of friends — Faith illustrated — 
Cripple at Bethesda — Christ heals a withered hand, 36 

(vii) 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. page 

Christ heals a blind and dumb demoniac — Sermon on 
the Mount— Healing servant of centurion at 
Capernaum— Son of widow of Nain restored to 
life — Jairus pleads for his daughter — Cure wrought 
by touch of hem of Christ's garment — Storm on 
Sea of Galilee — Two blind men receive sight — 
Canaanitish woman's faith tested, . . . .46 

CHAPTER VI. 

Christ stoned in temple — A blind man restored to sight 
becomes a fearless advocate of Christ's cause — 
Christ at Bethany — Lazarus' death and resurrec- 
tion from the grave — Christ's love of children — 
Christ's entry into Jerusalem and ill treatment 
there, 55 

CHAPTER VII. 

Feast of the Passover — The Lord's Supper instituted— 
Christ alone in Gethsemane — Christ before Annas 
and Caiaphas — Christ forsaken by all His disciples 
— Pilate delivers Christ to be crucified — Christ on 
the cross — The penitent malefactor pardoned at the 
eleventh hour, 62 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Christ's last words from the cross — Seal and guard at 
the sepulchre — Removal of stone from entrance of 
sepulchre — Christ's resurrection — Christ's proof 
of His love for us — Christ's manliness — Unmanly 
not to se^jre Christ — We cannot make terms with 
Christ, but must accept His terms, . . .70 



CHAPTER I. 

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.— 
James 1 : 17. 

" For the beauty of the earth, 

For the beauty of the skies, 
For the love which from our birth 

Over and around us lies, 
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise 
This our sacrifice of praise." 

It pleased God, in infinite mercy, to provide 
this gloriously-beautiful world as our probation- 
ary abiding-place. Did we appreciate this bless- 
ing as we should, our happiness in this life would 
be far greater than it is. Our daily cares w T ould 
weigh less heavily, and our many mercies would 
be more enjoyed, because traced directly to the 
source from whence they come. 

The goodness of God is so apparent in His 
works that the soul must indeed be cold and 
dreary that does not realize this, and gratefully 
respond to the Giver of all good for the mercies 
vouchsafed by Him. 

We cannot sufficiently thank God for the bless- 
ings He has so graciously and bountifully con- 



10 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

ferred upon us, nor for the glorious promises He 
has so freely made to us. 

The earth and sky seem to rival each other in 
proving not only the majesty of the Creator, but 
His condescending love in forming them for our 
benefit and enjoyment. 

The humblest flower in the valley, no less than 
the stately oak upon the hill-top, proclaims God's 
loving messages to us. Their voices are in sweet 
accord with those of the heavens, ever vocal in 
praising Him w T ho made them, and telling of His 
wondrous love and tender mercy. In Bible lan- 
guage, " The heavens declare the glory of God : 
and the firmament sheweth His handy work." 

Great as was the love that formed and beau- 
tified our world, it has since shone more resplend- 
ently. Redemptive love surpassed creative love. 
" God so loved the world " that He permitted the 
death of His Son to rescue it, when it could be 
saved in no other way. The inspired volume 
follows this astounding declaration with the fol- 
lowing explanation, as though it were necessary 
to prove that divine love could not only forbear 
to puuish, but would pardon and bless the guilty : 
" God sent not His Son into the world to condemn 
the world ; but that the world through Him might 
be saved." 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 11 

"'Twas groat to speak a world from naught; 
'Twas greater to redeem." 

Never till we enter heaven shall we begin to com- 
prehend what a debt of gratitude we owe to our 
blessed Redeemer. 

" It may be wrong, and yet I would not be 
An angel, formed in spotless purity; 
It may seem strange, yet with my sins and cares, 
I would not change my lot in Christ for theirs. 
They in the light of God will ever glow, 
Yet joys are mine which they can never know. 
They, since He made them first, have ever been 
Viewing His love, no earthly veil between ; 
In that, from age to age, they still abide, 
Drink of its fullness, and are satisfied. 
Yet even they bend down new depths to see, — 
New depths of love, the love that ransomed me. 
Sweet are their songs ; yet not to them is given 
To sing the song of the redeemed in heaven. 
Bright are their crowns, their harps are shining gold, 
Yet in their hands no victor's palm they hold ; 
No wreath they weave such as shall clasp the brow 
Of those who pass through tribulation now. 
Their robes are white, yet they shall fade beside 
The robes that Jesus' blood hath purified. 
They near Him stand, but for His bride alone 
Remains the place the nearest to His throne; 
To her alone it shall be given to rest 
Upon His arm, and lean upon His breast." 

We are justly called upon to bless God "for 
our creation, preservation, and all the blessings 



12 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

of this life ; but above all, for His inestimable 
love in the redemption of the world by our Lord 
Jesus Christ, for the means of grace and for the 
hope of glory." There could be no " means of 
grace" nor "hope of glory" were it not for 
Christ ; and yet how sad it is that He is so seldom 
in our thoughts, and, if loved at all, loved with 
such a cold, wavering love ! 

It will be our fault, as w T ell as our loss, if the 
blessings offered us in and through Christ are not 
secured by us. We are not only authorized, but 
specially invited, to look to Him for salvation. 
His "above all" precious gift of salvation, and 
His " inestimable love" in having purchased our 
redemption at such a fearful cost to Himself, are 
enough to secure our deepest and abiding affec- 
tion for Him. 

Without Christ all must inevitably be spiritual 
death. With Him we have truest enjoyment of 
this world, and in the world to come, life eternal. 

There are three versions of the first line of that 
beautiful hymn, 

" Jesus, lover of ray soul." 

Another version reads, 

" Jesus, refuge of my soul ;" 

and a third says, 

"Jesus, Saviour of my soul." 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 13 

A beautiful trinity of titles — " Lover," " Refuge," 
"Saviour"! Precious links in the chain that 
securely binds the storm-tossed soul to the anchor 
within the haven of eternal rest. 

On a lovely summer evening, a few years ago, 
the passengers on board a steamer on the Poto- 
mac river were electrified by the peculiarly rich 
and soul-stirring strains in which one of America's 
noted singers breathed forth this prayer in song — 

" Jesus, lover of my soul." 

All in that crowd of listeners were spell-bound ; 
every heart was thrilled. A gentleman from the 
outer circle made his way to the singer and asked 
him if he had served in the northern army during 
the civil war. On being answered in the affirm- 
ative, the gentleman said that he had fought on 
the southern side, and one bright night, concealed 
by a shadow, approached quite near to him when 
he was on picket duty, and heard him humming 
the tune just sung; that he aimed at his heart, 
and was about to pull the trigger when there 
came to him in the death-like stillness of that 
memorable night — 

" Cover ray defenceless head 
With the shadow of Thy wing," 



14 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

and that he could not fire. The singer replied 
that he well remembered that night as one in 
which he had been unusually depressed, and that 
his only comfort was in committing his soul to 
God in the hymn he was humming. 

Were it not for our implicit confidence in the 

love of Christ, we could not seek refuge in Him ; 

nor w r ould we go to Him in our extremity did we 

not trust in Him as our Saviour. 

" 'Twas He who found me on the deathly wild, 
And made me heir of heaven, the Father's child; 
And day by day, whereby my soul may live, 
Gives me His grace of pardon, and will give. 

" Yea, Thou wilt answer for me, righteous Lord : 
Thine all the merit, mine the great reward ; 
Thine the sharp thorns, and mine the golden crown ; 
Mine the life won, and Thine the life laid down." 

It is not enough to know of the love of Christ. 
To trust in Him fully, we must implicitly believe 
in His power, His almightiness. His " still small 
voice," so full of peace and comfort, has in it the 
majesty and might of God. What though the 
lightning rends the heavens, and its accompany- 
ing artillery shakes the earth to its centre ? From 
the lips of Him who bade the angry waves of 
Galilee " Be still," we have the comforting assur- 



THE LAMB OF GOB. 15 

fence, "Let riot your heart be troubled; ye be- 
lieve m God, believe also in Me." In this loving 
whisper, which no thunder can drown, Christ 
tells the distressed soul that it may well tremble 
in view of the power of God to punish those who 
do not seek divine protection, but that it may 
have the same confidence in His might that it 
has in that of God ; that though God is mighty 
to punish the guilty, He, Christ, is equally mighty 
to save all who put their trust in Him. 

But for our knowledge of and confidence in 
the God Christ, where could we look, upon whom 
could we depend, in time of danger ? Our comfort 
is in His love, our safety in His might. " Other 
refuge have w T e none." 

Great as was the privilege to be with Christ as 
were those who associated with Him when on 
earth, we are infinitely more highly favored in 
being permitted to look upon Him as He is pre- 
sented to us in the Holy Scriptures, and to learn 
of Him as He is there revealed to us. His dec- 
laration was, " Because thou hast seen Me, thou 
hast believed : blessed are they that have not 
seen, and yet have believed." 

It in no way detracts from the sacredness of 
the Bible to reverently review it as a glorious 



16 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

and instructive picture-book. It is " the book " 
in this as in all other respects. It is full of soul- 
inspiring pictures, drawn by the pen of inspira- 
tion. They illustrate its teachings and rivet 
them upon our memories and in our hearts. 
Many who with feeble steps are approaching the 
termination of a long and useful life, remember 
more distinctly than any other event of their 
childhood, the delight it afforded them to sit in 
their mother's lap and listen to her explanation 
of the pictures in the large family Bible, as she 
reverently turned over the sacred pages, and Sun- 
day after Sunday thus gave them their first relig- 
ious instruction. Such lessons, however crude 
the pictures which illustrate them, have left their 
indelible impression upon the memory of many, 
and have ever since influenced the hearts and 
lives of not a few. 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 



CHAPTER II. 

n they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great 
joy. — Matt. 2 : 10. 

" As, with gladness, men of old 
Did the guiding star behold ; 
As, with joy, they hailed its light, 
Leading onward, beaming bright; 
So, most gracious Lord, may we 
Evermore be led to Thee." 

The most conspicuous of Bible pictures — one 
that sheds its lustre upon all the others ; we will 
call it the grand frontispiece — is that of our 
blessed Lord. As we gaze upon it, from some of 
the many points of view in which it may be seen, 
let our prayer be that He " who commanded the 
light to shine out of darkness," may so shine in 
our hearts as "to give the light of the knowl- 
edge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus 
Christ." 

Great benefit may be derived from the study of 
the numerous types and figures in which our Sav- 
iour is presented to us in the Scriptures, such as 

"The Chief Corner-stone." — The only 
foundation upon which we can safely build our 
hopes of a home in heaven. " Other foundation 
2* 



18 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

can no man lay." God need not, and therefore 
will not, lay any other. 

"The Good Shepherd." — So "good" as to 
lay down His life for His sheep ; and whose rod 
and staff will so comfort us in passing through 
"the valley of the shadow of death," that we 
"will fear no evil." That valley cannot be 
safely crossed without His aid. 

"The True Vine."— Whose leaf shall not 
wither, and whose fruit will ripen throughout 
eternity. 

" The Door." — Hinged on divine mercy, and 
ever open to all believers. The only condition 
being, " By Me, if any man enter in, he shall be 
saved." 

"The Eock."— The Church's only founda- 
tion, against which the waves of persecution dash 
in vain. 

A lifetime may be profitably devoted to the 
study of these and numerous other titles of our 
blessed Kedeemer. Eternity will not exhaust 
them ; and what an eternity that will be, — " to be 
forever with the Lord," learning more, and yet 
always more, of 

" The old, old story of Jesus and His love." 

Old, yet ever new and soul-inspiring. We can- 



THK LAMB OF GOD. 19 

not have a well-grounded hope of participating in 

this heavenly joy unless we, in this life, know of 
Christ, and secure a personal interest in Him. 

Those who would profit by their contemplated 
voyage to Europe studiously apply themselves 
to the study of the history of such countries as 
they expect to visit, and " read up the old mas- 
ters/' so as to be prepared to appreciate their 
works of art. Familiarity with the lives and 
works of Fra Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci, 
Michael Angelo, Titian, Raphael, Rubens and 
others, creates an interest in their paintings and 
sculpture which cannot otherwise be enjoyed. 
Nor can we duly honor the great men of modern 
times unless we know of the deeds which have 
made them great. It is said of Thorwaldsen that 
* probably the most perfect piece of marble ever 
wrought by human hands is his statue of the 
Christ. Those who have seen it in the Metro- 
politan Church at Copenhagen say that the whole 
light of the story of the gospel seems to stream 
down upon them from the stone as they look 
at it. 

Those who would profit by the teachings of the 
Scriptures must in like manner make a careful 
* Silent Times, by the Rev. J. R. Miller, D.D, 



20 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

study of them, unbiased by their own prejudiced 
opinions, which are sure to so pervert the truth 
as to make the Bible teach just what they prefer 
should be taught. We must go to the Bible for 
our opinions, not with our opinions, and prayer- 
fully search its sacred pages for instruction and 
guidance. 

We are too apt to be governed by popular 
opinion. To blindly follow r the multitude, and 
applaud, because it applauds, evidences neither 
intelligence nor appreciation. It is nothing more 
than a blind, ungoverned excitement. The low- 
est order of intellect can fully equal the highest 
in mere outward demonstration. As a general 
rule it greatly exceeds it. No reliance can be 
placed upon it. It is as unstable as the wind. 
The multitude that shouted, " Hosanna to the Son 
of David," had no sooner done so than it as 
loudly clamored for His death. Their " Crucify 
Him, crucify Hini" gave sad proof of their 
ignorance of Him. 

As we are about to enter the Scripture gallery 
to look upon some of the pictures or scenes of our 
blessed Lord, we shall do well to first learn of 
Him as He is revealed to us in the Old Testa- 
ment. 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 21 

We get but little more than half way through 
the first chapter of our Bible, when we read that 
" God said. Let Us make man in Our image/' 
Here we find the first reference to Christ. 

God had spoken into existence the firmaments 
— sky, earth and sea — and all the " living crea- 
tures " belonging to them. His mandate, " Let 
there be," at once produced each as named by 
Him. All preparation having thus been made 
for the comfort and happiness of man, God, as it 
were, held a council with the other members of 
the Trinity, and said, " Let Us make man in Our 
image." No human hand must attempt to draw 
aside the curtain which hides from our view the 
doings in heaven. It is enough for us to know 
that God the Son, wdio was to redeem us, and 
God the Holy Ghost, the "blessed Comforter," 
who was thereafter to " abide with us forever," 
took part in our creation. Was it because we 
were given an immortal soul, and therefore, like 
God, are to live forever, that we were created in 
His image ? 

The next Scripture reference to the Son of God 
is in the third chapter of Genesis. We are not 
informed that Adam and Eve understood it and 
took comfort from it. Some writers think that 
r^uch was the case. If so, they certainly went 



22 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

out of the garden with hearts less burdened than 
they would otherwise have been. It was their 
only ray of hope. 

Numerous Old Testament prophecies foretell 
the coming of the promised Messiah, and the 
errand upon which He would come. 

Isaiah makes frequent mention of Him who 
was to " Proclaim liberty to the captives." 

" The government shall be, upon His shoulder ; 
and His name shall be called Wonderful, Coun- 
sellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, 
The Prince of Peace." 

Jeremiah says that His name shall be called 

"The Lord our Kighteousness." 

David's harp never sounds more sweetly than 
when tuned in praise of Him " that cometh in 
the name of the Lord." Who can listen to the 
twenty-third psalm without being touched by it? 
We cannot be too thankful for the possessive 
pronoun in its opening sentence. It warrants our 
making a personal application of the blessings 
with which the psalm is so richly stored, and 
which have encouraged more souls than, perhaps, 
any other portion of Scripture. 

Old and young, rich and poor, the humblest 
and the most exalted of our race, find in it just 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 23 

the comfort and strength they severally need. 
The good Shepherd leads His flock to the richest 
pastures without distinction. Happen what may, 
the same trusting assurance, " I shall not want," 
comes from hovel and from palace. 

If the last words of the late Kaiser William 
were correctly transmitted to us from Berlin, 
that excellent monarch was greatly comforted 
when his spiritual adviser read this psalm to 
him as he was passing into the presence of the 
King of kings. A fit ending for one who at the 
time of his confirmation, in early youth, w r rote 
out the principles on which he resolved to govern 
his life, one of w T hich was, " I will begin every 
morning of my life with devotional thoughts of 
God Almighty." 

Passing on to the New Testament, we find it 
well stored with proofs of the Messiahship of 
Christ, and of the events in His life while on 
earth. 

Never were more truthful words spoken than 
those uttered in derision by the chief priests and 
others of Christ when upon the cross. " He saved 
others ; Himself He cannot save." To " save 
others" was the sole object of His coming to 
earth. The sacrifice of Himself was the cost at 
which He undertook our redemption. 



24 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

It is indeed a true saying, and worthy of all 
men to be received, that " Christ Jesus came into 
the world to save sinners. ,, In return for w T hat 
He has done for us, may we " ever hereafter serve 
Him," not merely with our lips, but in " newness 
of life." 

As we proceed to learn of Christ in the follow- 
ing pictures of Him, let us remember that we all 
have a direct personal interest in Him. We can 
each say, as we look upon Him, " For me He 
died." May not a few be able truthfully to add, 
from personal experience, " In whom we have re- 
demption through His blood, the forgiveness of 
sins, according to the riches of His grace " ? 

Saint John brings the Saviour beautifully and 
forcibly to our notice in the twenty-ninth verse 
of the first chapter of his gospel. On the follow- 
ing day, as we learn in the thirty-sixth verse, 
John the Baptist reiterates his urgent appeal. 
Twice asked in this chapter to 

"Behold the Lamb of God," 

let us comply with the request, that we may 
learn of Him and profit by His teachings. 

This picture, figuratively speaking, is painted 
by John the Baptist, and framed by the beloved 
disciple. 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 25 

The wi*e men, commissioned by Herod to 
arch diligently " for the infant Christ, under 
the pretence that he too would " worship " Him, 
hasten on to Bethlehem of Judaea, whither they 
are miraculously guided, and ask, " Where is lie 
tl*at is born King of the Jews ? for we have seen His 
star in the East, and are come to worship Him/' 

" With exceeding great joy " they find the 
object of their search, and adoringly prostrate 
themselves before Him, and present to Him the 
gifts — " gold, and frankincense, and myrrh " — 
which they had brought with them from their 
eastern home for that purpose. So says Saint 
Matthew. 

Saint Luke introduces into his picture of this 
scene the shepherds to whom the angel of the: 
Lord had conveyed these "good tidings of great 
joy." They a came with haste" so soon as 
heaven's song of "Glory to God in the highest" 
had been sung by the " multitude of the heavenly- 
host" that accompanied the angel. 

This is the first view w r e have of " the Lamb- 
of God." Though a helpless infant, cradled in a 
manger, He is the acknowledged King of kings. 
Faith detects in His swaddling-clothes the spot- 
less robe of holy royalty. 

They were "wise men" who first sought the 



26 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

Saviour. They did not seek Him from motives 
of curiosity or indifference, but to pay Him the 
homage due unto Him. Saint Paul told the 
Corinthians that " Xot many wise men after the 
flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are 
called." Let us hope that such is not now the 
case to the extent it was in the apostle's day. 
Paul was one of the most prominent of the few ex- 
ceptions, and fully competent to form an opinion 
upon the subject. Though there are by no means 
. as many wise and mighty ones following Christ 
to-day as should do so, yet He ranks among His 
chosen ones some— not a few — of the noblest of 
i our race, who count it their highest honor to sub- 
mit to His laws and to devote^ themselves to His 
service. 

" Daily living seemeth weary 
To the one who never works ; 
Duty always seemeth dreary 
To the one who duty shirks. 

" Only after hardest striving 

Cometh sweet and perfect rest ; 
Life is found to be worth living 
To the one who does his best." 

It had been revealed to good old Simeon that 
he should not see death till he had seen "the 
Lord's Christ ;" and when he was, at last, favored 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 27 

with that glorious and long-desired sight, in the 
person of the eight-day-old babe reverently held 
in his fond embrace, his emotion found vent in 
the prayer, " Lord, now lettest Thou Thy serv- 
ant depart in peace, according to Thy word : 
For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation." 

What a sublime picture that aged servant of 
God must have presented as he embraced the 
infant in whom he recognized his divine Lord and 
Master, for whose coming his life had been 
prolonged ! He was so overpowered by the sight, 
so abundantly satisfied, and so fully ripe for 
heaven, that he prayed he might be permitted to 
at once enter his eternal home. The object of his 
life had been gained, his fondest hopes had been 
realized. 

Why has this scene been so minutely recorded 
in the Scriptures, unless it is to teach us that 
those who accept Christ as their Saviour, and 
trust implicitly in Him, are thereby prepared for 
death at any moment, come when and as it may ? 
" Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace." 
To be ever ready " now," is to be always ready. 
Sudden death to the Christian is a sudden transi- 
tion from earth to heaven, than which nothing 
can be more glorious or desirable. To be unpre- 
pared to die, is to be unprepared to live. 



28 THE LAMB OF GOD. 



CHAPTER HI. 

Unto you that fear 3Iy name shall the Sun of righteousness 
arise. — Mal. 4 : 2. 

" True Sun ! illume our inner sight ; 
Pour down Thy Spirit's living light : 
Through all our senses, o'er our head, 
Unsetting Sun ! Thy brightness shed." 

The Scriptures relate but few of the incidents 
in the life of Christ which transpired in His 
youth ; but they tell all that it is necessary for 
us to know, and full enough for us to profit by. 
It is much to say that as He increased in years, 
He " increased in wisdom . . . and in favor with 
God and man." If the youth of the present day 
so follow Him that the same can be said of them, 
it will indeed be well with them. 

The only public act of our blessed Lord, until 
He was twenty-nine years of age, of which we 
have any Scripture record, took place in the 
temple at Jerusalem, w T hither He had accompa- 
nied His parents, who, as was their constant prac- 
tice, went there to the feast of the passover. 
They make a day's journey homeward, supposing 
that He was one of their party. Finding that 
such was not the case, they return to Jerusalem, 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 29 

and, after searching for Him three days, find 
Him "sitting in the midst of the doctors, both 
hearing them and asking them questions. And all 
that heard Him were astonished at His under- 
standing and answers." " Behold, thy father and 
I have sought thee sorrowing/' is His mother's 
earnest appeal to Him. " Wist ye not that I 
must be about my Father's business?" is His reply. 
"My Father's business!" What father? Cer- 
tainly not Joseph ! At this early period of His 
life we have from Christ's own lips this declara- 
tion of His godhead. 

AVe next behold our Lord journeying from 
Galilee to Jordan, to be baptized of John. It 
was then that " the Holy Ghost descended in a 
bodily shape like a dove upon Him," and that 
God specially introduced and endorsed Him, if 
we may reverently so speak, by proclaiming from 
heaven, " This is My beloved Son, in whom I am 
well pleased." 

This special mark of divine favor, at this par- 
ticular time, is significant. To-day, as then, spec- 
ial strength is often given for special trials that 
are about to come upon us. The Son of God was 
on the eve of a fearful conflict. 

That He in whom God was well pleased, and 

upon whom the Holy Ghost had so recently de- 

3* 



30 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

scended, should be tempted by the devil is indeed 
marvellous. Our blessed Lord had fasted forty 
days and forty nights. He was wearied and 
hungry. The arch fiend seeks this opportunity, 
leads Him into the wilderness, and sorely tempts 
Him. Dark deeds seek dark places, and the 
prince of darkness did his utmost to get the ad- 
vantage of our Lord, but all in vain. 

This desperate struggle between the represent- 
atives of heaven and hell must have been wit- 
nessed with the most intense interest by every 
occupant of both those abodes. It was no sooner 
over than " angels came and ministered unto 
Him" who had triumphed so gloriously. We 
are told that " the devil left Him," and he must 
have been glad to escape after so signal a defeat. 

While this teaches us that Satan does not hes- 
itate to attack the most righteous, even the Son 
of God, we cannot be too thankful that we have 
such proof that He who is foi us is greater than 
he who is against us. Let us, when tempted, re- 
member this, and seek refuge in Him who has 
given such proof of His power to overcome the 
evil one. It has been truthfully and beautifully 
said that " the crucible proves the gold, the field 
of battle proves the soldier, the storm-tossed 
ocean proves the sailor, and temptation proves 



TIIK LAMB OF GOD. 31 

the Christian." Christ, having endured tempta- 
tion, knows our need of Him at such times, and 
will assuredly sympathize with and sustain all 
who put their trust in Him. It must, however, 
be remembered that we are to do our part before 
we can expeet divine assistance. To parley with 
Sanin, and suppose that God will keep us from 
harm, is to disregard His warning, " Resist the 
devil and he will flee from you." The most ef- 
fectual way to resist him is in the free use of the 
weapon with which our Saviour conquered him. 
No weapon is so dreaded by him as is the Bible. 

Our blessed Lord goes into Galilee, and find- 
ing Philip bids him follow Him, which he at once 
does, and with such earnestness that he urges 
Xathanael, who did not believe in the " son of 
Joseph," nor that any good could " come out of 
Nazareth," to " come and see" for himself. Na- 
thanaers confession, " Rabbi, thou art the Son 
of God : thou art the King of Israel," tells the 
rest of the story. 

If those who profess to be followers of Christ 
would, like Philip, urge unbelievers to go to 
Jesus and decide for themselves who and what 
He is, and whether or not it is for their interest 
to enlist in His cause, they would do far more 
for their divine Master, and for the souls of their 



6Z THE LAMB OF GOD. 

fellow creatures, than can possibly be accom- 
plished by mere argument. 

To those who have not identified themselves 
with the cause of Christ let it be said, Do not 
make the mistake of keeping away from Him 
because many who profess to be His are, as you 
suppose, so full of faults. Look not at the " im- 
perfections of church members," but at the Lamb 
of God. If you demand perfection, you will find 
it in Him. He is your pattern as well as your 
Saviour. 

Never mind the weak human instruments God 
may employ to win you to Himself. If you were 
perishing from thirst, you would pay little or no 
regard to the vessel which contained the water 
you craved. Your only concern would be to get 
enough. 

What would be thought of the loyalty of a 
man who, though thoroughly satisfied with the 
estimable character of his sovereign, deemed the 
disaffection of others a sufficient cause for with- 
holding his allegiance? It need not be asked 
where are his honor and his manliness. They lie 
trampled in the dust. 

The most manly thing a man can do is to give 
his heart to God ; the most unmanly and unjust- 
ifiable is to withhold it. An army officer, whose 



THE LAMB OF GOD. .>> 

lot it was to lead a forlorn hope so desperate that 
diath seemed the inevitable result to all who were 
to be engaged in it, was advised by some brother 
officers to employ the brief interval in prayer. 
This he would not do, though the Scriptures sanc- 
tion such a course up to the eleventh or last hour. 
His argument was that he had all through life 
neglected God, and would not so insult Him as to 
offer Him the dregs of it. His Maker's claims 
upon him had been sinfully neglected, but never 
for a moment disputed. 

There are vast numbers of high-toned men who 
would suffer death in its most aggravated form 
rather than knowingly do this wrong. It is with 
them as it was with Saint Paul before his change. 
All they need is to realize their obligations to 
their Creator and Redeemer. With their influ- 
ence in the right scale, the prayer, " Thy kingdom 
come," could be easily prayed. 

Can there be a greater folly than to argue that 
we keep away from Christ because some who pro- 
fess to be His followers are, in our opinion, false 
to their profession, as though the fault were His ? 
It should be an incentive to us to do all in our 
power to counterbalance their wrong by embrac- 
ing His cause and being true to Him. 

Xathanael had probably seen many faults in 
3 



d4 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

the former life of Philip. It was not Philip, but 
Philip's God, that satisfied him. 

Behold the Lamb of God at the marriage feast 
in Cana of Galilee, where He performed His first 
miracle. 

Many seize upon this portion of Scripture in 
the endeavor to make it an authority for their 
ungodly dissipation. Would that they did not 
overlook or disregard the all-important admoni- 
tion it contains, " Whatsoever He [Jesus] saith 
unto you, do it" 

Those who profess to follow Christ are where 
they should not be, if where He is an unwelcomed 
guest. To be consistent they must not go, nor 
desire to go, where He will not accompany them. 

To ' follow ' Christ where Christ has never led ; 
To quote as Christ's what Christ has never said; 
Impossible, untrue. 

The Buddhists, true to their creed, are votaries 
or followers of Buddha, and glory in being such. 
So with Mohammedans, who as devoutly follow 
their Allah ; but can it be as truthfully said that 
professing Christians are, as a class, what their 
name indicates — votaries or followers of Christ ? 
To be a professing Christian too often means noth- 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 35 

ing more than that one is not an Atheist nor a 
Hottentot. We should ever remember that Christ 
is u the way," as well as " the truth and the life." 
There is no other way to heaven. 

It is a fearfully sad and fearfully common mis- 
take to suppose that Christ must be excluded 
from our society when we meet together for pleas- 
ure. There is both pleasure and profit in having 
Him with us on such occasions. They must be 
sadly forgetful of what He has done to secure our 
happiness who doubt this. He would have us all 
happy ; and there is no such unalloyed enjoyment 
of this life as that which flows from our compan- 
ionship with Him. 

Why is it that so many, some doubtless uncon- 
scious of the fact, treat Him as an object to be 
shunned so long as they are in health, but whose 
pardon and support must be sought when death 
approaches ? 

It does not seem to be the highest type of honor 
to eagerly seize every blessing we can secure from 
a friend whose influence places many favors in 
our way, and whose generosity lavishly bestows 
them upon us, and yet make no acknowledgment 
of His kindness. We would not so treat an earthly 
friend. Why, then, so treat our heavenly ben- 
efactor ? 



36 THE LAMB OF GOD. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and 1 
will give you rest. — Matt. 11 : 28. 

" To Thee they went, the blind, the dumb, 

The palsied and the lame, 
The leper with his tainted life, 

The sick with fevered frame. 
And lo ! Thy touch brought life and health, 

Gave speech and strength and sight ; 
And youth renewed, and frenzy calmed, 

Owned Thee, the Lord of light." 

A leper meets Jesus and worships Him. 
Having discharged this duty, he then tells of his 
sad condition, and says that he has no hope of 
being cured except in the divine will. " Lord, if 
Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean." His res- 
toration to health depends solely upon the will 
and power of Christ. " If Thou wilt, Thou canst." 
He is fully persuaded that nothing more is 
wanting than a willingness on the part of the 
God-man who stood before him, and in whom he 
had unbounded faith. The answer harmonizes 
with the prayer, "I will ; be thou clean.'' Though 
an immediate cure was thus wrought, " Jesus put 
forth His hand, and touched hini." 

Leprosy was looked upon by the Jews as a 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 37 

special mark of God's displeasure, and was called 
"The stroke or wound of the Lord." Miriam, 
Gehazi and Uzziah were smitten with it for sins 
they had committed. One of the first miracles 
of Him who came to pardon sin was to give 
this proof of His power to do away with the ef- 
fect of sin. 

Israel's king was greatly distressed when. 
Syria's favorite general handed him a letter from 
his master asking him to " recover him of his 
leprosy," and exclaimed, "Am I God, to kill 
and to make alive, that this man doth send unto 
me to recover a man of his leprosy ?" The fact that 
Christ had this power is a proof that He w 7 as God- 

An unusual scene takes place in the synagogue 
at Capernaum, in the midst of our Lord's dis- 
course there on a Sabbath day. One at least in 
that congregation knows Christ, and publicly ac- 
knowledges Him, but not in a manner calculated 
or intended to promote the devotional exercises 
in which the people were engaged. A cry is 
heard, " Let us alone ; what have we to do with 
Thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art Thou come 
to destroy us ? I know Thee who Thou art, the 
Holy One of God." It is an oft-repeated quo- 
tation, " The devils believe and tremble." Here 
4 



38 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

we have that fact illustrated. The words of the 
Master seem to have been too powerful and too 
pointed. The "unclean spirit" could be silent 
no longer. His hatred and dread of Christ must 
have vent. This is the first time, so far as is 
known, that the Saviour was called " Jesus of 
Nazareth," and it was doubtless intended to im- 
press upon those who heard it the humble birth 
or origin of Christ ; yet, at the same time, is ex- 
torted from the evil one the confession that Christ 
is "The Holy One of God." 

It is not to be supposed that the poor man 
under Satanic influence was taken to the syna- 
gogue to be benefited by the services there. It 
was to oppose Christ. Our Lord's rebuke, " Hold 
thy peace, and come out of him," was all-sufficient 
to restore order and to release the one possessed 
of the devil, as well as to manifest to all present 
Christ's power to destroy the works of Satan. 'Tis 
useless for the evil spirit to plead with Christ, 
" Let us alone." This our compassionate Lord will 
not do. The question, " Art Thou come to destroy 
us?" is fully answered in the result. This "new 
doctrine," as His power over the devil was termed, 
spread the farne of Christ throughout all the 
region round about Galilee. The Bible tells us 
that God will make " the wrath of man to praise 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 89 

Him;" He often makes the wrath of the devil 
to do so, as in this case. 

On another occasion two demoniacs of uncom- 
mon fierceness meet our Lord, and use ver) r much 
the same language as did the one in the syna- 

_ ue. " What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, 
thou Son of God ? art Thou come hither to tor- 
ment us before the time V Yes ! Our Lord had 
undoubtedly gone to where they were having 
everything their own way, for the very purpose 
of destroying them, and He speedily accom- 
plished that work. It was God's time to dispose 
of them, whatever may have been meant by " the 
time " to which they referred. 

A paralytic is brought to Jesus by friends 
whose faith overcomes the many obstacles in their 
way. " When they could not come nigh unto 
Him for the press, they uncovered the roof where 
He was," and lowered the sick man to His feet. 
" Jesus seeing their faith, said unto the sick of the 
palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be for- 
given thee." Here we have a very remarkable 
and affecting picture of the Lamb of God. It 
shows what a magic and mighty power there is in 
faith. " Jesus seeing their faith." 



40 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

Have any of us relatives or friends in distress, 
and have we taken them, in the arras of faith, to 
Jesus ? If not, why not, when we have such en- 
couragement as is here given ? 

With such a picture before them, Christians 
have no excuse for not taking their unconverted 
relatives and companions to a throne of grace, 
and there, offering up the prayer of faith on their 
behalf.* A careful study of this picture will con- 
vince all that " according to their faith it shal^ 
be done " unto them, whether they pray for them- 
selves or others. 

We do not know that this sick man asked or 
expected to be healed. Though the Scriptures 
are silent upon this point, the inference is that he 
did not ask. He may have been too ill to do so. 
Be this as it may, it was the faith of those who 
took him to Jesus that led Him to restore the 
sick to health. 

Deprive the Christian of the right to pray for 
others, and you rob him of all his power in 
prayer, for it would be useless for him to plead 
for himself if he could not do so on behalf of 
others. Our Bible not only authorizes but in- 
structs us to "pray one for another/' and adds, 
" The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man 
availeth much. ,, How much, it is impossible for 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 41 

us to imagine. God's limits far exceed the 
boundary of man's conjecture. 

Christian parents should ever keep before them 
this picture of our blessed Lord. It teaches them 
tli at, so long as they are spared to pray for their 
children, they wield a power that is irresistible. 
If called upon to sorrow because of the wayward- 
ness of a loved but wicked child, they need not 
despair. If they have but faith, Jesus will be 
sure to see it, and be influenced by it. 

What is faith ? It is much more than a mere 
passive belief. From the highest authority we 
learn that it is " the substance of things hoped for, 
the evidence of things not seen." We may hold 
in our hand a delicious peach, and greatly ad- 
mire its rich fragrance and its delicate blush. 
We believe it to be a peach, because we have been 
so told, though w r e may never have eaten one; 
but this does not satisfy our desire for the " hoped 
for " fruit. If w T e eat it, we have the " substance " 
of it. The Scripture invitation is " Taste and 
see that the Lord is good." 

A lad was seen standing with his hands and 
head uplifted. A passer-by looked up, but could 
not see anything to attract the attention of the 
lad, and asked him what he was doing. " I am 

4* 



42 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

flying a kite," was his reply. " How do you 
know that you are doing so ? no kite is in sight." 
"Ah, sir, I know it, for the kite palls, and I feel 
it" Here was the "evidence" of what was not 
seen. When we feel Christ at our heart-strings, 
all doubts vanish. 

The twenty-second verse of the twenty-first 
chapter of Matthew embraces, within a dozen 
words, a complete sermon upon faith, and forcibly 
illustrates it Jesus there tells us — not that " all 
things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, ye shall 
receive :" there is no such promise in the Bible ; 
the promise is, "All things whatsoever ye shall 
ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." An 
active, believing faith is the key that unlocks this 
mystery. Such faith is given to those only whose 
desires are sanctified and therefore subordinate to 
those of God. 

There is every variety of faith, so called, from 
the true standard to that of the mother who 
agreed with her son that they should that night, 
before retiring to rest, pray for the removal of a 
hill between her cottage and the adjacent village. 
Her argument was that God had said that faith 
would remove mountains. She wanted the ob- 
jectionable hill out of the way, not for the glory 
of God, but for her own personal gratification. 



THE LAMB OF COD. 43 

The prayer waa said by both parent and child J 
but saying a prayer is not necessarily praying. 
The sou was aroused early the next morning by 
his mother's boisterous call, " There is that hill, 
just as I knew it would be." 

A poor cripple lingers wearily at Bethesda's 
pool, unable to reach the waters in time to be 
cured by them. It is not the season for the 
healing angel to make his accustomed visit, 
and so " trouble the water " that whoever first 
reached it was cured of whatever disease he had. 
His case seems utterly hopeless ; but " man's ex- 
tremity is God's opportunity." Though no 
earthly friend is at hand, nor any of the angelic 
host, one who is more than human, and whom 
angels worship, is approaching, on His way to 
Jerusalem, and the lonely sufferer will not have 
to wait much longer. 

He who is ever busy seeking and relieving those 
in distress is sure to see this object of commisera- 
tion, and sure to befriend him. Behold your 
Saviour as He compassionately stops to speak to 
this weary one, who for thirty-eight years has 
borne his infirmity. Listen to His question. It 
is not " How long have you suffered ?" nor " Do 
you suffer much ?" His name is not asked, nor is 



44 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

his dwelling-place ; but the inquiry is, " Wilt 
thou be made whole V 1 " Sir, I have no man, 
when the water is troubled, to put me into the 
pool ; but, while I am coming, another steppeth 
down before me," is the melancholy answer. 
" Jesus saith unto him, Eise, take up thy bed and 
walk. And immediately the man was made whole, 
and took up his bed, and walked." 

Many are called upon in the mysterious but 
unerring providence of God to suffer long and 
severely ; but the blessed Comforter is sure to 
appear, at what He knows to be the best time 
and best way, bringing the needed relief. 

A man with a withered hand has his faith 
tested by being told to stretch it forth. He does 
not argue that it is impossible for him to comply 
with so unreasonable and unnatural a request — 
that his hand is withered, and that he is, there- 
fore, unable to extend it. He simply does as he 
is commanded. "He stretched it forth," and 
with that effort came the cure. " It was restored 
whole, like as the other." Heaven issues no com- 
mand without, at the same time, supplying all 
needed help for its complete and immediate exe- 
cution. 

Our Lord, in this instance, accepted as it were 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 45 

a challeng from the Pharisees upon the observ- 
ance of the Sabbath. lie first convinced them 
from the Scriptures, by answering their remon- 
strance against His hungry disciples for pluck- 
ing ears of corn on the Sabbath, with the question, 
" Have ye not read what David did, when he was 
an hungered, and they that were with him ?" He 
next reasoned that because He was " Lord even 
of the Sabbath day," He could lawfully do His 
work on that day. He then proved this by heal- 
ing the withered hand of the man to whom they, 
in their challenge, had called His attention. 



46 THE LAMB OF GOD. 



CHAPTER V. 

They brought unto Him oil that were diseased, — 
Matt. 14 : 3o. 

11 O Saviour Christ ! our woes dispel ; 

For some are sick, and some are sad, 
And some have never loved Thee well, 

And some have lost the love they had ; 
And some have found the world is vain, 

Yet from the world they break not free ; 
And some have friends who give them pain, 

Yet have not sought a friend in Thee." 

To bring to our Lord a blind and dumb man, 
possessed with a devil, was certainly to place 
before Him one who could in no way plead for 
or help himself. 

It is difficult to conceive of a more wretched, 
helpless person : his eyes sealed ' so that no ray 
of hope could be seen in any direction, and his 
tongue so bound that he could make no appeal 
for aid of any kind from any one. He was in the 
temporary possession, and under the control, of 
Satan. Yet happily he had friends who could 
aid him, and who proved true to him by taking 
him to Christ, who " healed him, insomuch that 
the blind and dumb both spake and saw." Few 
as were the words spoken by our Lord, they 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 47 

caused a vast deal to be said by the prejudiced 
Pharisees, who, because they could not deny that 
He cast out devils, strove to make it appear that 
such miracles were wrought by Beelzebub the 
prince of devils. Satan would indeed begin a 
new and blessed work, were he to commence the 
destruction of himself! 

Behold the Lamb df God dispensing blessings 
to all who came in His way, — " Healing all man- 
ner of sickness and all manner of disease," thus 
extending His fame, and augmenting the num- 
bers that gathered around Him from various 
parts of the country. " Seeing the multitudes/ ' 
He ascends His mountain-pulpit and preaches 
His first recorded sermon, so rich in blessings, so 
full of comfort and encouragement, and yet so 
fearlessly but tenderly denouncing wrong. A 
word in season for all classes of His hearers. The 
" poor in spirit" are told that " theirs is the king- 
dom of heaven ;" others are warned that unless 
their " righteousness shall exceed the righteousness 
of the scribes and Pharisees," they " shall in no 
case enter into the kingdom of heaven." The ad- 
monitions and warnings, no less than the loving 
invitations, contained in that discourse, make it as 
perfect as the One from whose lips and heart it 



48 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

came. No wonder " the people were astonished 
at His doctrine: for He taught them as one 
having authority, and not as the scribes," 

On a subsequent occasion it was said of Him, 
" Never man spake like this man." With equal 
truth it might have been added, " nor performed 
such glorious deeds as He." 

As Jesus enters Capernaum, He is besought by 
a centurion to heal his palsied servant. Though 
not asked to do so, our compassionate Lord offers 
to go to the "grievously tormented" one and 
heal him ; but the centurion's faith is such that 
he does not consider this necessary. A " word " 
from the heavenly Physician is, in his opinion, 
all-sufficient ; and so it proved. The desired cure 
was made "in the self-same hour" in which it 
was spoken. There is something touchingly beau- 
tiful in the argument used by the centurion why 
Jesus need not do more than " speak the word," 
and thereby accomplish the desired cure. If he, 
a mere man, could so command those under him 
to do his bidding, that every want was thus grat- 
ified, surely Christ could in like manner command 
the disease and it must obey Him. It must in- 
stantly vanish if He so ordered it. Though a 
man of authority, surrounded by a retinue of 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 49 

soldiers and servants, he is so genuinely humble 
Bfl to feel himself unworthy to have Christ come 
under his roof. Our Lord speaks of this faith 
as surpassing any He had ever seen. Those who 
blush to speak the name of Jesus may learn a 
profitable lesson from this truly noble centurion. 

The day after that on which our Saviour cured 
the centurion's servant, He entered the city of 
Nain, accompanied by many of His disciples and 
" much people.'' As He approaches the gates of 
the city He meets a funeral procession. Though 
many citizens attend it, they are evidently led to 
do so, not because of the rank or influence of the 
departed one, but from sympathy for the sorrow- 
ing and widowed mother who is following the 
corpse of her only son to its grave. The great, 
loving heart of Jesus, ever in sympathy with those 
in distress, prompts Him to give the much-needed 
aid to this lonely mourner. "Weep not" were, 
so far as we know, the only words spoken to the 
mother, but they were the words of Christ, which, 
be they few or many, are always full of love and 
power. He would not have asked that mother to 
cease weephig had He not intended to remove the 
burden which forced the tears from her aching 
heart. The stream must be stopped at the 
5 



50 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

fountain-head. The heavenly Comforter then 
approaches the bier. Those who bear it stand 
still, unasked to do so, but impelled by a resist- 
less influence which comes over them. The Lord 
of life and death utters the command, " Young 
man, I say unto thee, Arise." a He that was 
dead sat up, and began to speak." Christ " de- 
livered him to his mother," are the few remaining 
words which place before us this truly wonderful 
picture. The results of this event are told us. 
"There came a fear on all," as well it might. 
The tidings swept " throughout all Judaea and 
throughout all the region round about" like a 
mighty avalanche. They reach John the Baptist, 
who commissioned two of his disciples to go and 
ascertain whether the wonder-working stranger 
was the Oxe for whose coming he looked. Jesus 
tells them to return to John and inform him what 
they have seen and heard. Actions speak louder 
than words. " The blind see, the lame walk, the 
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are 
raised, to the poor the gospel is preached." 

The picture of Jairus, first worshipping our 
Lord, then immediately thereafter pleading with 
Him on behalf of his " little daughter" (his only 
daughter, about twelve years of age), who was at 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 51 

the point of death, if not already dead, is one of 
aliar interest. It is so interwoven with an- 
other incident of equal interest, as to blend the 
two into one. 

Our Lord at once accompanied the distressed 
father to his house. On His way there, Christ 
suddenly realizes that some one in the crowd 
which surrounded Him has clandestinely extract- 
ed a cure from His sacred person. Turning im- 
mediately around, He discovered the one who had 
touched but the hem of His garment, and was 
thereby cured of a sad affliction from which she 
had suffered for twelve years, having been taken 
ill the year in which the child He was on His 
way to see was born. Our Lord utters only a 
few words, but they are full of comfort and sym- 
pathy. " Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith 
hath made thee whole." 

On His arrival at the ruler's house, our Lord 
found that many friends had gathered around the 
dead child. He also discovered that they did not 
have the confidence of the trusting father, whose 
faith had brought Him there ; for when He spoke 
of restoring the dead to life they " laughed Him 
to scorn ;" a laugh which was, however, soon 
turned into " great astonishment." 



52 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

Overcome by the pressure made upon Him by 
the many sick and suffering ones who were 
brought to Him, but without leaving one of them 
un cured, Jesus seeks repose on the other side of 
the Sea of Galilee — repose so much needed that 
He falls into a deep sleep in the boat. The dis- 
ciples become greatly alarmed by reason of a 
severe storm which has overtaken them. Though 
the tempest is so violent as to imperil the lives 
of all on board, Jesus sleeps on composedly till 
aroused by His terror-stricken companions, who 
imploringly ask, " Carest thou not that we per- 
ish ?" Our Saviour arises and rebukes the wind, 
and says unto the sea, "Peace, be still." Of 
course the warring elements recognize and obey 
their Creator. Why, then, do the holy Scriptures 
add, " and the wind ceased, and there was a great 
calm"? We know not, unless their divine Author 
graciously placed this on record as a comfort and 
assurance to all who are overtaken by the storms 
so often encountered on the voyage of life. 

When any of us are overtaken by cares and 
anxieties, we should bear in mind who it is that 
is at the helm of our affairs, and trustingly look 
to Him — not asleep as on the Sea of Tiberias, but 
at the right hand of God, sleeplessly caring for us. 

However smooth the sea of life mav now be, 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 53 

we must not suppose that it will remain unruffled 
during our passage across it. Sorrow, in some of 
its various forms, is the sad inheritance of us all. 
me it certainly will, in one form or another, 
and we should expect it and be prepared for it. 
If blessed with the companionship of our dear 
Lord, we shall safely reach the opposite shore, 
whatever storms may be encountered on the way. 

Two blind men are sitting by the wayside. 
They hear that Jesus is passing, and call to Him, 
" Have mercy on us, Lord, Thou Son of David." 
Though rebuked by the multitude, they cease not 
to implore His help. Jesus stops to ask, " What 
will ye that I shall do unto you ?" It is sight 
that they most need, and this they plead for and 
at once obtain. It is pleasant to read that they 
no sooner received their sight than they "fol- 
lowed Him." We may all learn a profitable les- 
son from their having done so. 

The prayer, not the words, but the prayer, 
" Have mercy on me, O Lord," will remove dark- 
ness from the souls of all who sincerely offer it. 
We must ask for light, as did these wayside plead- 
ers, before it will burst upon us. We must plant 
the seed before we can enjoy the fruit. The blind 
men heard that Jesus was passing. Though they 



54 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

could not see Him they believed in Him, and ap- 
pealed to Him for help. The spiritually blind 
must ask before they can receive. They must 
seek before they can find. Finding comes after 
seeking, not before doing so. " Seek, and ye shall 
find," is the conditional promise. 

We confess that we are startled at the first view 
of the picture of a distressed Canaanitish woman 
pleading for her afflicted daughter. 

Pathetic as is the cry, " Have mercy on me, O 
Lord, Thou Son of David," Jesus apparently does 
not heed her. " He answered her not a word." 
"Send her away," urge the disciples. Nothing 
daunted, she draws nearer to Christ, and worships 
Him. " Lord, help me," is her prayer. " It is 
not meet to take the children's bread and to cast it 
to dogs," is an answer that would have frozen her 
heart had her faith not been equal to this severe 
test, as is proved by her touching reply. " Truth, 
Lord : yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall 
from their masters' table." There is naught of 
harshness or indifference here. It is but the cru- 
cible proving the golden faith of the suppliant. 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 56 



CHAPTER VI. 

He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. — 
John 1: 11. 

" Forever on Thy burdened heart 

A weight of sorrow hung, 
Yet no ungentle, murmuring word 

Escaped Thy silent tongue. 
Thy foes might hate, despise, revile, 

Thy friends unfaithful prove : 
Unwearied in forgiveness still, 

Thy heart could only love." 

Were it stated elsewhere than in the Bible 
that the people attempted to stone the Son of God 
within the sacred walls of His temple, it would 
scarcely be credited, though we have so many- 
proofs of their hatred of Him. Regardless of 
person and place, they thus gave loose rein to 
their passions, and would have put Him to death 
there had He not disappeared from their sight in 
some mysterious way. His time had not yet 
come, His work was not yet finished, nor was He 
to lay down His life in so hallowed a spot. 

Though in the act of escaping from such shame- 
ful abuse, and fleeing for life, His love for those 
in distress is paramount. Self is lost sight of 
when others can be relieved. Passing a poor 



56 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

blind man, He voluntarily stops to render assist- 
ance ; He is not even asked to bestow pity or aid. 
" He saw a man which was blind from his birth." 
That was quite enough. Unsolicited, He ap- 
proaches the blind man and anoints his eyes with 
clay, and tells him to " Go, wash in the pool of 
Siloam." This command was unaccompanied by 
any direct or indirect promise of cure, nor was the 
blind man's faith challenged as in so many other 
cases. " He went his way therefore, and washed, 
and came seeing." By this brief but comprehen- 
sive record of him we learn that the man " went." 
He did not delay to question or doubt results. And 
where did he go ? " His way." He at once made 
God's way his way. And why? " Therefore" — 
because so commanded by Christ. That was quite 
enough to induce him to carry out the instruc- 
tions given him. Jesus had told him to go, — there- 
fore, he went. He could have no better reason 
for going to Siloam's pool, and desired none. 
Arriving there, he did as he was told to do — he 
" washed." This much he could do for himself, 
and he gladly did it. Did the story end here, it 
would be a grand record of the one to whom it 
refers. But it has a glorious termination. He 
no sooner receives his sight — a blessing he had 
never before enjoyed, for he was born blind — 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 57 

than he hastens back to where he left Christ, a 
true and fearless worker in His cause. It is to 
be hoped that not many read the description 
given of this man and of his allegiance to Christ, 
as recorded in the ninth chapter of Saint John's 
Gospel, without having their hearts stirred by so 
touching a recital. Such a sudden transition 
from pitiable and helpless blindness, to zealous 
advocacy of Christ and His cause, merits thought- 
ful and frequent study. His defence of the cause 
he had just espoused, and his timely and earnest 
appeal, " Will ye also be His disciples ?" rank 
him among the faithful preachers of righteous- 
ness ; and he will continue to effectively preach 
to all thoughtful readers of the Scriptures, till the 
end of time. 

There is an indescribable joy in looking at the 
Saviour as we see Him cared for and happy at 
Bethany, the loved and ever-welcome guest of 
Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus. 
The man of sorrows experienced but little of such 
happiness while on earth. Though " He came unto 
His own," and on an errand so full of mercy and 
love, " His own received Him not." " He was 
despised and rejected of men." Their hearts and 
doors were, with but few exceptions, closed against 



58 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

Him. This would make the unfailing love and 
companionship of the Bethany family the more 
prized by Him. 

Ere long a cloud overshadows that united and 
happy family. Lazarus is ill, and the distressed 
sisters, seeking comfort from the fountain-head, 
hasten to inform Christ of his sickness. Their 
message to Him is a peculiarly tender one : " He 
whom Thou lovest is sick." It contains no appeal 
for aid from the heavenly Physician ; their con- 
fidence in Him renders this unnecessary. They 
believe it to be all-sufficient to communicate the 
fact of their brother's illness. Jesus receives this 
message, but does not respond to it. Is their con- 
fidence in Him misplaced ? This cannot be. Laz- 
arus dies and is buried. Jesus knows all that is 
transpiring in the house of mourning, and yet He 
keeps away ; He does not even attend the funeral. 
Four days elapse after the burial of Lazarus be- 
fore He sees the weeping sisters ; but their faith 
in Him has not been lessened. " Lord, if Thou 
hadst been here, my brother had not died ; but I 
know, that even now, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of 
God, God will give it Thee," is the welcome with 
which Martha greets Him. It is not enough to 
tell her that her brother would " rise again " ; she 
knew and believed the story of " the resurrection 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 59 

at the last day"; but there is a depth in this 
mystery of the resurrection that had not yet been 
fathomed. It was to teach and prove this that 
Jesus so long kept away from His afflicted friends. 
Lazarus must, in the natural order of events, sicken 
and die, and he must remain in the grave long 
enough for the body to undergo the first stages 
of corruption, in order to give unmistakable proof 
of death. This having been accomplished, Jesus 
goes to the grave of His departed friend and 
weeps over it. Some who witness His grief ask 
why it was that He who could open the eyes of 
the blind, could not have prevented the death of 
so loved a friend. He could have done so, but 
He was about to open the eyes of all present to a 
yet greater miracle — His power over death. The 
dead must hear His voice and obey Him. At 
His command the grave must give up its dead. 
He utters the command, and Lazarus is restored 
to life. 

The inscription over this picture is, " I am the 
resurrection, and the life: he that belie veth in Me, 
though he were dead, yet shall he live." 

Christ's love of children manifested itself on 
several occasions. Though often grieved, and 
from various causes, it is but once stated in the 



60 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

Bible that He was " displeased," and that was 
when the disciples rebuked those who brought 
little children to Him for His touch and blessing. 
He was " much displeased." 

Using little children to illustrate His teachings 
about the kingdom of heaven proved how much 
He prized them. This is not to be wondered at, 
when w T e think of the many that were slain at 
the time of His birth, and because of it, by order 
of Herod. 

Christ placing a little child in the midst of His 
disciples, in order to answer their question as to 
who would be the greatest in the kingdom of 
heaven, is an instructive and interesting picture. 
His " Suffer little children to come unto Me" ap- 
peals with unabated force to all parents and 
guardians of to-day. 

Jerusalem, " the holy city," " the city of God," 
though " beautiful for situation, the joy of the 
whole earth," presents a truly sorrowful picture. 
At first all is bright and promising. Christ en- 
ters the city followed by "a very great multi- 
tude," who spread their garments and tree 
branches in the way, and proclaim, " Blessed be 
the King that cometh in the name of the Lord." 
Yes! and "blessed" too would have been the 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 61 

inhabitants of that favored city, had they been 
true to their privileges. But another and very 
different shout is heard. Their "hosannas" are 
soon followed by the diabolical cry, " Crucify 
Him, crucify Him." " All the chief priests and 
elders of the people" have taken " counsel against 
Jesus to put Him to death." " Why, what evil 
hath He done ?" is asked by the governor ; but 
they attempt no reply to the question. Pilate 
proclaims that he had examined the accused, and 
could find no fault in Him ; yet, maddened by 
their passions, they persist in clamoring for His 
blood. He seeks their eternal life, and they seek 
His death. What a fearful j^rice was paid for 
our sins ! " The Just for the unjust" might well 
be given as the name of this sad picture. Is 
there a lesson to be learned from it ? Yes ! if it 
is with individuals as with communities that do 
not profit by their advantages. May it never be 
said of any of us, " How often would I, . . . and 
ye would not "! 



62 THE LAMB OP GOD. 



CHAPTER VII. 

This do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me. — 
1 Cor. 11 : 25. 

" Bread of the world, in mercy broken, 

Wine of the soul, in mercy shed ; 
By whom the words of life were spoken, 

And in whose death our sins are dead ; 
Look on the heart by sorrow broken, 

Look on the tears by sinners shed, 
And be Thy feast to us the token 

That by Thy grace our souls are fed." 

As a brief sketch of some of the incidents in 
the life of Christ is all that is contemplated in 
this little volume, we will hasten on without even 
a passing glance at many of the Bible pictures 
which it would be profitable to study at our 
leisure. There is a sadness connected with some 
which we would gladly escape. That of the 
wretched betrayer, covenanting with the high 
priests to sell his Lord, is one of the number, and 
one of the most distressing. 

Peter and John are sent to " the large upper 
room," to make ready the passover. Jesus 
and His disciples follow, and partake of the pas- 
chal lamb in the customary manner. The Sav- 
iour then immediately institutes what is known 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 63 

as "The Lord's Supper," using the bread and 
wine which had been prepared for the passover ; 
thereby substituting the one for the other. The 
paschal lamb had long been the type of the Lamb 
of God, but now the substance takes the place of 
the shadow. 

Whenever w T e assemble at the table of our 
Lord, to partake of the emblems of His dying 
love, we should remember that we have a direct 
personal interest in that service. It was for us, 
not Himself, the Saviour died. Not to thus com- 
memorate His death, as directed by Him, is to 
disobey His command, " This do in remembrance 
of Me," and to incur a responsibility many would 
fain believe they avoided by absenting themselves 
from such services. It is impossible to conceive 
of a sadder delusion. " To him that knoweth to 
do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." There 
are sins of omission as well as of commission. 

Let us tread lightly as we approach, and rev- 
erently glance at our blessed Lord alone in Geth- 
semane, from whence comes forth that agonizing 
prayer, " my Father, if it be possible, let this 
cup pass from Me !" He had taken with Him 
Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and made 
know r n to them His intense grief, and asked their 
sympathy and support. " My soul is exceeding 



64 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

sorrowful, even unto death : tarry ye here, and 
watch with Me." We should suppose that these 
specially-chosen disciples would have faithfully 
responded to such a plea ; but no ! The Saviour 
had gone only a short distance from them, to offer 
up, alone, the most agonizing prayer that ever 
reached heaven, and returned to them for comfort 
and support, but found them asleep. "What! 
could ye not watch with Me one hour?" is His 
gentle rebuke. We can have no conception of 
the sense of utter loneliness that came over our 
dear Lord at this time, probably the darkest hour 
of His life. His exclamation, " What !" contains 
vastly more than any finite mind can compre- 
hend. 

Returning the second time, He again found the 
disciples asleep, but did not awake them. " He 
left them, and went away again, and prayed the 
third time," after which He joined His still-sleep- 
ing disciples, and informed them, that the hour 
was at hand in which He would be betrayed into 
the hands of His enemies. " While He yet spake," 
Judas approached, followed by a great multitude 
armed with swords and staves, sent by the chief 
priests and elders of the people to arrest Him as 
though He were a " thief," to use His own ex- 
pression. Were it possible to intensify such suf- 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 65 

fering, to be betrayed by the kiss of a pretended 
friend must have deepened the wound. 

Behold the Lamb of God as He is led to 
Annas, and then to Caiaphas the high priest. 
Who can gaze upon these heartrending scenes 
without deep emotion? Our Lord and Saviour 
cruelly smitten and disgracefully mocked ! Blind- 
folded and struck in the face, He is asked to 
prophesy who it was that smote Him. In the 
midst of this sorrow, Peter deliberately and re- 
peatedly denies Him, as though He were not 
enduring agony enough from His openly-avowed 
enemies. To add to His distress all His disciples 
forsook Him. 

Christ forsaken is indeed a sad picture. He 
knew full well the utter desolation of loneliness 
when He made us the gracious promise, " I will 
never leave you, nor forsake you." A promise 
sure to be kept, and one that should comfort us 
under all circumstances. 

The Lamb of God is next seen in the judgment 

hall with Pilate, who, though he knows Him to 

be " the King of the Jews," treats Him as a slave 

by scourging Him, according to their custom, 

before delivering Him to be crucified, that He 

might thereby be the more despised. 

The whole band of soldiers gather around Jesus 
6* 



66 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

and bow before Him. They proclaim Him " King 
of the Jews." But this is all in mockery. True 
He is robed in purple and wears a crown, but it 
is a crown of thorns, and His sceptre is a reed. 

The next picture of our Lord presents Him 
bearing His cross, on His way to Golgotha. 

We will not dw T ell upon His crucifixion ; the 
driving of the nails into His hands and feet ; the 
piercing of His side ; the vinegar and the gall ; 
the soldiers casting lots for His garments ; the 
faithful, loving women gathered at the cross; 
their mourning over events which they cannot 
comprehend, and which can only be explained by 
the saying, " The Scriptures must be fulfilled/' 

What an inexpressibly sad and depressing pic- 
ture is that of our dear Lord nailed to the cross ; 
a malefactor on either side, crucified with Him ! 

We would naturally suppose that His mission 
on earth was accomplished now that He is about 
to die. But it was not so. He had yet an im- 
portant work to accomplish before He could say, 
" It is finished." 

11 The saddest day hath gleam of light, 

The darkest wave hath bright foam near it, 
And twinkles through the cloudiest night 
Some solitary star to cheer it." 



THE LAMB OF GOD, 67 

A truly glorious light shone through the greater 
than Egyptian darkness of this sad and eventful 
day. 

God's willingness to forgive sin at the eleventh 
or last hour had yet to be made manifest, and the 
Saviour of sinners, though in extreme bodily and 
mental anguish, is to furnish that proof. It has 
been said that one such proof has been given that 
no sinner need despair, and only the one that 
none may presume. 

One of the malefactors had asked our Lord to 
save him, but he did not ask in a proper manner 
nor from proper motives. He " railed " on Jesus 
and doubted His Messiahship. "If Thou be 
Christ, save Thyself and us," was his language. 
The other malefactor rebuked the impiety of his 
companion, and asked him, in evident astonish- 
ment, if he did not fear God. He also acknowl- 
edged the justness of the punishment they were 
both receiving, but declared that Christ had 
" done nothing amiss." 

It is worthy of notice that the penitent mal- 
efactor confessed his sins, and pleaded for Christ 
before he pleaded w T ith Him. He seems to have 
had no doubt as to who Christ was, nor as to what 
He could do for him. Without an "if" of any 
kind, he prays, " Lord, remember me w 7 hen Thou 



68 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

comest into Thy kingdom." His argument ap- 
pears to have been, I cannot expect Thee to think 
of me, or do anything for me, now that Thou art 
in such bodily torture ; but that will soon be over, 
and Thou wilt then pass into Thine own glorious 
and eternal kingdom. Then, blessed Lord, re- 
member me. Thou knowest all things. All my 
sins are before Thee. I confess my wickedness 
and the justice of the punishment I am enduring. 
Remember me as a sinner, without a ray of hope 
except through Thine infinite mercy. Remember 
me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom. I know 
that Thou canst rescue me, and I trust Thee to do 
it in Thine own way, and in Thine own good time ; 
only, Lord, remember me and forgive me. How 
brief, and yet how full of mercy, was Christ's re- 
ply ! — " Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou 
be with Me in paradise." 

It is quite unnecessary to enter into any argu- 
ment as to whether or not this appeal for mercy 
came from one who had before seen or heard 
Christ, or as to the means by which he recognized 
his divine Lord in the person of the sufferer at 
his side. It is sufficient that he uttered the prayer 
of faith, and that the Saviour was so satisfied with 
it as to at once pardon him, and promise him 
eternal life. 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 69 

This is the last appeal made to Christ before 
His death. He took that redeemed soul with 
Him to heaven as a trophy, evidencing that His 
work on earth was accomplished. 

The Jews endeavored to lower Christ to the 
level of the criminals at His side, and conse- 
quently consigned all three to a like death of 
shame. It was furthest from their wish or ex- 
pectation that the majesty and mercy of an Al- 
mighty God should be made manifest in our 
dying Saviour ; and that a despised thief, whom 
they considered too vile to live, should by Him 
be given eternal life. God, in this case as in 
many others, made the wrath of man to praise 
Him ; and turned what was intended as an insult 
to the Holy One into a glorification of Him. 

What poor sinner, conscious of his guilt, be his 
sins ever so many or ever so great, need, in the 
light of this picture, hesitate in going to Christ 
for pardon? The prisoner in his dungeon, the 
criminal on the gallows, the profligate — however 
far off he may have wandered — may at the last 
moment look to the same loving Saviour in the 
same trusting spirit, and secure the same glorious 
reward. 



70 THE LAMB OF GOD. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work 
which Thou gavest Me to do. — John 17 : 4. 

" Privations, sorrows, bitter scorn, 

The life of toil, the mean abode, 
The faithless kiss, the crown of thorn, — 

Are these the consecrated road ? 
'Twas thus He suffered, though a Son, 

Foreknowing, choosing, feeling all, 
Until the perfect work was done, 

And drunk the bitter cup of gall." 

The last words of our blessed Redeemer were 
uttered while He was agonizing on the cross, and 
were addressed to God the Father. We may 
venture to quote them, but there is a sacredness 
about them w T hich forbids our commenting upon 
them with feelings other than of profound rever- 
ence. " Father, into Thy hands I commend My 
spirit." Having completed the work of redemp- 
tion, He thus surrendered His commission; He 
" yielded up the ghost." 

No wonder that the veil of the temple was rent 
in twain ; no wonder that the earth quaked, and 
that the rocks were torn asunder; no wonder 
that the centurion and they that were with him, 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 71 

watching Jesus, exclaimed, " Truly this was the 
Bod of God." 

We must now take our last look at the Lamb 
of God. We see His lifeless body removed from 
the cross by Joseph of Arimathsea, and by him 
carefully placed in his own sepulchre. It is our 
farewell look at Him. The Lamb of God will 
never again be seen in His earthly condition. 
True, there are the seal and the guard. The 
command of Pilate, "Make" the sepulchre "as 
sure as ye can," has been fully obeyed. All that 
the ingenuity and hatred of man could devise has 
been done. Every precaution has been taken 
against the removal of the dead Christ from the 
tomb. His disciples cannot come by night and 
steal Him away, however much they might de- 
sire to make it appear that He had " risen from 
the dead." 

The devout women, while on their way to 
anoint the body of their crucified yet loved 
Lord, mournfully question as to who will re- 
move for them the obstruction at the entrance 
of the tomb ; but they nevertheless hasten to it 
in faith, and well they may, for as if in mockery 
of all attempts to thwart the decrees of God, a 
messenger whom no Roman guard, however vig- 
ilant, can resist, approaches. An angel descends 



72 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

from heaven, commissioned to roll back the stone 
from the door of the sepulchre, and yield it must. 
The seal must break at his touch, and give free 
access to those approaching on an errand of 
mercy. To their dismay they find, on reaching 
the tomb, that the Lamb of God is not there. 
It is tenantless. He who had gone forth from 
that sepulchre was not Christ as the Lamb of 
God, but Christ as the Lion of the tribe of 
Judah. The Lamb had been sacrificed, and 
there was to be no more sacrifice for sin. The 
prophecies concerning "the Kazarene " had all 
been fulfilled. The atonement He made for sin 
had been accepted. The opening of His sepul- 
chre symbolized the opening of the kingdom of 
heaven to all believers. Sin had long entombed 
the whole human race ; but it is now robbed of 
its power, and all who will may have eternal life 
through Him who is " the resurrection and the 
life." 

Our Lord's repeated appearances after His cru- 
cifixion gave undisputed proof that He had risen 
from the dead. The Roman guard may say that 
His disciples " stole Him away while we slept " ; 
but they make no attempt to deny His resurrec- 
tion. That He was alive again could not be 
questioned. Even the doubting disciple who was 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 73 

so fully resolved that he would not credit the 
story of the resurrection until he had seen and 
felt the wounded side and hands, is made to 
exclaim, " My Lord and my God." 

In order to form some idea of the extent of 
Christ's love for us, we must bear in mind that 
when He undertook to redeem us by giving Him- 
self a sacrifice for our sins, He knew full well all 
that He would have to endure on our account. 
All the ignominy that would be heaped upon 
Him, and the intensity of His bodily and mental 
anguish, were as clearly realized by Him before 
He was laid in His manger-cradle at Bethlehem 
as at the time the sufferings were upon Him. The 
finite mind can but imperfectly grasp this sub- 
ject. To form even a remote idea of the suffer- 
ings of Christ, we must reflect upon them, not as 
viewed from our standpoint, but as comprehended 
in all their intensity by a pure and holy God. 
As best we can we must consider the height from 
which His enemies would fain have dragged Him. 
By as much as it exceeds that of the loftiest and 
purest of human beings, by so much does heaven 
exceed earth. 

Many a brave man fearlessly meets danger 
when encountered in the path of duty, but always 

7 



74 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

with the hope, if not the expectation, that in 
some way or to some extent the threatened evil 
may be averted. It was not so with our Sav- 
iour. He knew all, even the anguish that would 
wring from Him the expiring cry, " My God, my 
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" His man- 
liness ranks next to His godliness. The most 
manly one ever on earth, and the most noble ; 
yet, in view of this acknowledged fact, the men- 
tion of His name or of His cause, unless it be in 
a place set apart for religious worship, however 
judiciously spoken, is too often considered out 
of place, and produces embarrassment, if it does 
not give offence. 

There is no semblance of weakness in advocat- 
ing the cause of Christ in our daily life and con- 
versation. On the contrary, it is a proof of man- 
liness to do so. Cowardice and timidity seal the 
lips, and one should blush not to be a soldier of 
the cross, rather than do so when others are true 
to the Captain of their salvation, and bravely 
discharge a soldier's duty. 

" Ashamed of Jesus ! that dear Friend 
On whom my hopes of heaven depend ! 
No ! when I blush, be this my shame, 
That I no more revere His name." 

There would be far less infidelity to-day were 



THE LAMB OF GOD. 75 

professing Christians more free to advocate a 
cause bo supremely grand and elevating. 

Notwithstanding the sad indifference with which 
too many treat their Saviour, all are more or less 
convinced of the great importance of having Him 
to go to in their extremity. They have an inde- 
scribable sense of relief in feeling that He will 
graciously heed them and do for them, when they 
are driven to Him. He is thus selfishly kept in 
reserve as a mysterious power, to act for them 
when they realize that they cannot do without 
Him, rather than loved and served as a merciful 
and gracious God. It does not seem to have oc- 
curred to such that God must necessarily form an 
all-important part of such an agreement, if any 
such there be. " I will laugh at your calamity ; 
I will mock when your fear cometh," is one of 
many passages of Scripture which show that He 
does not assent to any such one-sided terms. He 
is a jealous as well as a merciful God, and has 
duly warned us that He will honor only those 
who honor Him. 

However many and great the blessings which 
accompany us, and however attractive this life 
may appear to us — whatever its promises of 
pleasure and of profit, Christ is our only depend- 
ence for lasting peace and truest happiness. His 



76 THE LAMB OF GOD. 

religion differs from all other so-called religions 
in that it is most available and most sustaining 
when most needed. All other so-called religions 
clearly prove their utter worthlessness when their 
followers most depend upon them. 

The religion of Christ is not only for times of 
danger and of death. It is to live by as well as 
to die by ; for week-days as well as for Sundays ; 
for family circles and for social gatherings as well 
as for the sanctuary ; for the enjoyment of this 
life as well as for life eternal. 

While we are free to accept or reject Christ's 
gracious invitation, " Look unto Me, and be ye 
saved/' let us not forget that our freedom extends 
no further than this. Whether or not we look to 
Him as our Redeemer, we have been duly warned 
that we must all appear before Him as our Judge. 
There is no escaping that tribunal. The good 
and the bad must all be there. He now says that 
we "may" come to Him ; He will then say that 
we " must." The question now is, Shall we, or 
shall we not, accept Him ? A truly momentous 
question ; one that cannot be considered after 
death. Then it will be for Him to say whether 
or not He will accept us. Not that His accept- 
ance or rejection of us will then decide our final 



THE LAMB OF (iOD. 77 

destiny. He Avill only pronounce our destiny; 
we are now deciding it by the lives we are living. 

Nothing can be more personal than is the 
Christian religion. It is purely a matter between 
each individual soul and its God. True we 
may all be saved, but not as communities or as 
families, nor in groups of two or three ; only as 
individuals. We live an individual life, must die 
an individual death, and judgment will be passed 
upon us as individuals. Each for himself and by 
himself must render his final account of the man- 
ner in which he has spent this life. None will be 
called upon to give an account for another, but 
all will be held responsible for the influences their 
lives have had upon the lives of others. 

It is for us each now to answer the question, 
What think ye of Christ? and to decide what 
regard we will pay to the claims made upon us 
by Him who died to redeem us, and who lawfully 
claims us as His own. "Behold the Lamb of 
God, which taketh away the sin of the world." 

"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory 
and honor and power : for Thou hast created all 
things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were 
created." — Rev. 4 : 11. 



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Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
w . "* Treatment Date: July 2005 

* '^MP^^^S^F& PreserwationTechnologie 

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